Serotonin depletion impairs both Pavlovian and instrumental reversal learning in healthy humans.

ABSTRACT: Serotonin is involved in updating responses to changing environmental circumstances. Optimising behaviour to maximise reward and minimise punishment may require shifting strategies upon encountering new situations. Likewise, autonomic responses to threats are critical for survival yet must be modified as danger shifts from one source to another. Whilst numerous psychiatric disorders are characterised by behavioural and autonomic inflexibility, few studies have examined the contribution of serotonin in humans. We modelled both processes, respectively, in two independent experiments (N = 97). Experiment 1 assessed instrumental (stimulus-response-outcome) reversal learning whereby individuals learned through trial and error which action was most optimal for obtaining reward or avoiding punish

SUBMITTER: Kanen JW 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC8873011 | biostudies-literature | 2021 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature